Attractive cloisonné (*) enamel lady’s table mirror depicting three yellow five-clawed dragons on black ground, in pursuit of flaming pearls. This item was made in China in the late 19th or early 20th Century, probably during the reign of the Guangxu emperor 光緒帝 (reigned 1875-1908).

(*) Cloisonné 景泰蓝

Although popularly associated with Chinese art, the word “cloison” is actually French and means “compartment.” The technique was common in many parts of the world. Ancient Egyptians were the first to employ the cloisonné method.

Cloisonné enamel techniques were brought to China from Persia during the Yuan Dynasty. The techniques were developed further in the Ming Dynasty and became widespread during the reign of seventh Ming Emperor Jingtai 景泰 (reigned 1449－1457). This is the origin of the Chinese name for cloisonné Jingtailan 景泰蓝, with lan 蓝 (blue) being the most common background color. To produce a cloisonné utensil, the artist first produces a copper roughcast, attaches some copper wires forming decorative patterns, adds enamel between the spaces in the wires, and then fires the item in a kiln. Chinese cloisonné is sometimes confused with Canton enamel, a similar type of enamel work that is painted on freehand and does not utilize partitions to hold the colors separate.

Chinese black cloisonné

2012 The Year of the Dragon

As per the Chinese Zodiac, the coming year of 2012 is Year of Dragon that would commence on 23rd January 2012 and go on till 9th February, 2013. The Dragon is the fifth sign and signifies luck, especially for the Dragon people. Some people say 2012 is a Black Dragon or Water Dragon year.

The Year 2012 is the 4709th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C.

People born in the Year of the Dragon share certain characteristics: energetic, enterprising, self-assured, brave, passionate, innovative, optimistic, intelligent and ambitious.

The Infant King

Sing lullaby!

Lullaby baby, now reclining,

Sing lullaby!

Hush, do not wake the Infant King.

Angels are watching, stars are shining

Over the place where he is lying:

Sing lullaby!

Sing lullaby!

Lullaby baby, now a-dozing,

Sing lullaby!

Hush, do not wake the Infant King.

Soon comes the cross, the nails, the piercing,

Then in the grave at last reposing:

Sing lullaby!

Sing lullaby!

Lullaby! is the babe a-waking?

Sing lullaby!

Hush, do not stir the Infant King.

Dreaming of Easter, gladsome morning,

Conquering Death, its bondage breaking:

Sing lullaby!

These dolls were purchased as souvenirs in Noord Holland and the costumes are stylised and simplified. The fabrics and decorations are selected to make the dolls aesthetically pleasing. The Dutch girl has a beautiful face– rosy cheeks, and pretty blue eyes that open and close. Her face is hard plastic but looks like bisque. The male dolls wear black harem pants (broek) with two buttons at his waistband, shirts, vests (borsik) and hats. His feet are sitting in wooden shoes (klompen). These dolls were made in the late 1970s.

Atelier de poupées – 1950

Dutch Costume

Dutch clothing and costumes originated in the country now called the Netherlands, which has 14 provinces. Every province has its own traditional costumes. The most well-known type of dress, considered the national costume, came from Volendam.

Traditional dress for women includes long skirts, blouses, aprons and shawls or other shoulder decorations.

In almost all provinces, Dutch ladies wore some type of head covering made of fabric or lace. Some of them wore small lacy caps tied under the chin.

The men also wore hats, or fishermen’s caps.

The Marken men wear a blue and white or gray and white. A double-breasted red vest is worn on top, which shows below the shirt. The costume is finished off with gold buttons.

The dutch men are still proud to wear the baggy woolen trousers.

Meisje ik ben een zeeman (Girl I am a sailor)

by De Havenzangers

“The City of Dreadful Night”

by James Thomson, (1834-1882)

O melancholy Brothers, dark, dark, dark!

O battling in black floods without an ark!

O spectral wanderers of unholy Night!

My soul hath bled for you these sunless years,

With bitter blood-drops running down like tears:

Oh dark, dark, dark, withdrawn from joy and light!

My heart is sick with anguish for your bale;

Your woe hath been my anguish; yea, I quail

And perish in your perishing unblest.

And I have searched the highths and depths, the scope

Of all our universe, with desperate hope

To find some solace for your wild unrest.

And now at last authentic word I bring,

Witnessed by every dead and living thing;

Good tidings of great joy for you, for all:

There is no God; no Fiend with names divine

Made us and tortures us; if we must pine,

It is to satiate no Being’s gall.

It was the dark delusion of a dream,

That living Person conscious and supreme,

Whom we must curse for cursing us with life;

Whom we must curse because the life he gave

Could not be buried in the quiet grave,

Could not be killed by poison or the knife.

This little life is all we must endure,

The grave’s most holy peace is ever sure,

We fall asleep and never wake again;

Nothing is of us but the mouldering flesh,

Whose elements dissolve and merge afresh

In earth, air, water, plants, and other men.

Picasso & Weeping Women

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 180,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 8 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 2 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 84 posts. There were 15 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was February 3rd with 1,012 views. The most popular post that day was My Armand Marseille Doll – 390 A11M.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were search.aol.com, images.yandex.ru, stumbleupon.com, search.conduit.com, and translate.google.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for marie antoinette, queen victoria and prince albert, queen victoria, princess diana, and renoir.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

My Armand Marseille Doll – 390 A11M August 2009
3 comments

My crystal spear point prisms – c.1900 January 2009

My art deco compact by Houbigant August 2008
3 comments

My vintage sunglasses April 2009
12 comments

My problematical artifact – The Hookah February 2009
6 comments

Astor Piazzolla

The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Summer (Verano Porteño)

Double bass

The double bass is typically constructed from several types of wood, including maple for the back, spruce for the top, and ebony for the fingerboard. Double bass is very sensitive to changes in heat and humidity, which can cause cracks in tops.

It is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family.

All of the Viennese classical masters used this instrument in non-orchestral works. Beginning with the concerto by Joseph Haydn (cir. 1763, now lost), concertos followed by K. Kohaut (1765), D. J. Kneissel, B. R. Roslaub (Burgsteinfurt, Concerto No. 3), Dittersdorf (2), W. Pichi (2), A. Zimmermann, J. K. Vanhal, F. A. Hoffmeister (3), L. A. Kozeluch, and J. M. Sperger (18). The most important representatives of the Viennese school were: Josef Kämpfer (1734-after 1796); Friedrich Pischelberger (1741-1813); and Johannes Mathias Sperger (1750-1812). The playing of these musicians did not go unknown to Leopold Mozart, who (after his first visit to Vienna) added the following remarks to the double bass article in the second edition of his Violinschulë: “One can bring forth difficult passages easier with the five-string violone, and I heard unusually beautiful performances of concertos, trios, solos, etc. (on this instrument).” W. A. Mozart also added a contribution to the classical concert literature of the double bass. The obligato part of the concert aria K. 612 marked the high point of the solo music for the double bass of the classical period and at the same time, marked the end of this genre.

In addition, it is used in other genres such as Jazz, 1950s-style Blues and Rock and Roll, and Tango. Because an unamplified upright bass is generally the quietest instrument in a jazz band, many players of the 1920s and 1930s used the slap style, slapping and pulling the strings so that they make a rhythmic “slap” sound against the fingerboard.

Jack Lesberg

Jack Lesberg (February 14, 1920 – September 17, 2005) was a jazz double-bassist. He performed with many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, and Benny Goodman. Lesberg played violin in clubs before switching to the double bass in the late 1930s. He also performed with the New York City Symphony Orchestra, under Leonard Bernstein, and later with the Sydney Symphony. Orchestra.

Portrait of Jack Lesberg, Max Kaminsky, and Peanuts Hucko, Eddie Condon's, New York, N.Y.

I‘m very, very happy with my ribbon winner!!!!

This is a wonderful vintage cotton hanky with Donald Duck and his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie on a nautical adventure. This little piece of Disney history would look wonderful framed in a vintage frame. It is signed C.Walt Disney Productions in the lower left, and measures about 8.5″ square. Aside from a single hole, the condition is very good.

Other Examples

These images are used to show examples of Donald Duck handkerchiefs:

Interesting Facts about Donald Duck

- Hake’s Americana & Collectibles has sold the first Donald Duck model sheet, created in 1934 for the Disney cartoon The Wise Little Hen, for a record-breaking $75,000.

- Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

- Donald Duck comics were never banned in Finland, because the character doesn’t wear pants. That is just an urban legend. In a meeting held in Helsinki regarding youth affairs a candidate for Finland’s liberal party, Markku Holopainen, proposed that the country save money and promote fitness by replacing the Donald Duck comics it was providing to youth with sports magazines, which were cheaper at the time. The proposition was heartily approved by all of those in attendance.

- Donald Duck is the mascot of the University of Oregon.

- Donald has a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.

- It has been said that Mickey Mouse represents what we should be, while Donald Duck represents what we are.

- Donald’s temperament is the one thing that stands between Donald and Daisy.

- He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no trousers (except when he goes swimming).

- Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck are the sons of Della Duck (Donald Duck’s sister) and of her husband (who remains unknown). As identical triplets, Huey, Dewey and Louie are impossible to tell apart.

- Today, Donald Duck is recognized by people of all ages, the world over. His face appears on lunch boxes, T-shirts, and thousands of other products.

Donald Duck’s name in…

Arabic: بطوط (Buttoot)

Bulgarian:  Доналд Дък

Chinese: 唐老鴨 (Tang Lao Ya)

Czech: Kačer Donald

Danish: Anders And

Dutch: Donald Duck

Estonian: Piilupart Donald

Faeroese: Dunnaldur Dunna

Finnish: Aku Ankka

French: Donald Duck

German: Donald Duck

Greek: Ntonalt Ntak – Ντόναλντ Ντακ

Indonesian: Donal Bebek

Italian: Paolino Paperino

Japanese: ドナルドダック (Donarudo Dakku)

Korean: 도널드 덕

Latin: Donaldus Anas

Polish: Kacer Donald – Kaczor Donald

Portuguese: Pato Donald

Russian: Donald Dak – Дональд Дак

Sámi: Vulle Vuojaš

Serbo-Croatian: Paja Patak (Serbia); Pajo Patak (Bosnia/Croatia in ex-YU); Patak Pasko (Croatia today)

Slovene: Jaka Racman

Spanish: El Pato Donald

Swedish: Kalle Anka

Turkish: Vakvak Amca – Donald Amca

Vietnam: Vịt donald

Carl Barks

(27/03/1901 – 25/08/2000, EE.UU.)

Carl Barks is the foremost Duck artist of them all, and many consider him as the best comics creator of all time.

Ode to the Disney Ducks

by Carl Barks

They ride tall ships to the far away,

and see the long ago.

They walk where fabled people trod,

and Yetis trod the snow.

They meet the folks who live on stars,

and find them much like us,

With food and love and happiness

the things they most discuss.

The world is full of clans and cults

abuzz as angry bees,

And Junior Woodchucks snapping jeers

at Littlest Chickadees.

The ducks show us that part of life

is to forgive a slight.

That black eyes given in revenge

keep hatred burning bright.

So when our walks in sun or shade

pass graveyards filled by wars,

It’s nice to stop and read of ducks

whose battles leave no scars.

To read of ducks who parody

our vain attempts at glory,

They don’t exist, but somehow leave

us glad we bought their story.

This blue and white pottery lidded salt box can be placed on a counter or mounted on the wall. The wooden lid is held in place by small pins. The base is marked with a star and the letters “SB”. The salt box measures approximately 5.9 inches wide by 3.9 inches tall in front and 5.9 inches tall at the back.

Salt Box

With a culinary history centuries old in England, Germany and France, the traditional salt box holds about one pound of salt and can sit on a counter or hang on the wall. The protective flip-top wooden lid provides easy access to the covered salt. The dry heat coming off the stove helped keep the salt granular instead of lumpy.

Salt-Box House

A salt-box house is a type of frame house which is distinguished by having two stories in the front, one story in the back and a huge chimney in the middle. The second floor used to overhang the first floor and the windows were very small. The entrance is situated exactly in the middle of the house.

This architectural style emerged in New England around 1630, and salt-box homes were built well through the mid-1800s.

The name of this style of architecture refers to the containers in which salt was once kept. Salt was at that time a very valuable commodity, and it was carefully stored in containers which often looked much like miniature versions of a salt-box house.

“The “Salt-Box House” was built in 1738, and the history of its century and more of usefulness give an opportunity to record many an old order that has changed and custom that has passed away. The name “Salt-Box House” was a colloquial title springing from the resemblance borne by the building to the wooden salt box that hung in the kitchen chimney. The house was set upon a hill near the lovely village of Stratford, Conn., where it may still be seen, in a state of semi-ruin among woodbines and raspberry bushes.

It was built a “plank house”, like others of its periods, the sides being made entirely of wide planks two inches thick, standing upright side by side. “Raising bees” were then in fashion, and the neighbors gathered to help put together the framework of the new building “to the wagging of the fiddlesticks”. Some of the planks were 30 feet long, however, and there was much more work than play to a “raising bee”. The shape of the house, with its deep sloping roof, was according to a fashion established in Queen Anne’s time, when a tax was imposed upon houses of more than one story. The salt-box style gave a one story front and ample space for additional rooms under the roof behind. In this way the tax was eluded, and a very picturesque and individual example of architecture gained “. “Books of the Season” – The New York Times – Published: December 22, 1900.